My Personal Learning Environment

Social-Learning [Online image]

Greetings, fellow bloggers!

Today I'll be sharing what I have learned after creating my very first Personal Learning Environment (PLE) diagram.

Putting things on paper gives you a better perspective of what you know or have accomplished.  When I first tried to visualize the tools that I use for my PLE, I could not think of any.  Then I examined the poster created by Drexler (2010) and my first reaction was: "Wow, this is a very impressive PLE!"; I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the different tools Drexler uses for her learning.  It wasn't until I used Popplet to create my first PLE that I started to realize my learning environment was not as bad as I feared!

My first PLE demonstrates that I have a balanced learning environment; digital as well as F2F.  I am not only learning from others but also sharing what I know through social networks that allow me to CONNECT, CREATE, and COLLABORATE.  At the moment, I am not as active in the cyberspace community as I would like to be in the future, but as stated in my first post I have taken the first step into that world.

Paez, I. (CC) 2016.

When I look at the Ladder diagram in Bernoff (2010) blog article, I can see how I have moved from the Inactive level into a few levels above: Spectators, Joiners, Collectors.  Over the last few years, I started joining and exploring some of these networking tools and have found that my knowledge has expanded due to the exposure of different perspectives I encounter in those sites.  Still working on getting out of my comfort zone and become a more active online participant.  In my future, I see myself reaching the last three levels: Critics, Conversationalists, and Creators.  To a small degree, I am a creator as I am writing these blogs and previously shared some Prezi presentations and Infographics; however, I would like become more of a regular producer than a sporadically one!

As I analyze my word cloud, the word that stands out the most is LEARN.   Not surprisingly, my first blog reflects what I believe in: continuous learning and facilitating learning for others, and my PLE is a visual representation of the various sources I rely on to accomplish that belief.  Moreover, looking at the cloud and my PLE, I can also appreciate how my learning has been more dynamic than static.  Technology has made it easier for me learn more from people sharing their ideas and experiences online.  Granted, not all the information that is available online is accurate or reliable; however, discussing what I learn on the various digital social networks with the people that are close to me helps me deepen my understanding of the ideas and develop my own conclusions.

Paez, I. (CC) 2016

This personal learning environment diagram is now the stepping stone for my continuous development.  Now, that I have a visual representation of where I am, I can start adding to my environment the tools that I will need to help me get to where I want to be!

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References

Drexler, W. (2010). Retrieved January 24, 2016 from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-dUm2zbeNJ6IiOzbTr5v34Dk4pL0VZAtYi756-FL9o4yGFvfkMF2X5dasGV7wgaXr66XwxC8wKTN_UPrG0lfrGapRRkA3_NtrG3orJ7Q3tldiOZpL2NjWQW7Q_o5WI-fer5NegmN-nIYg/s1600/PLEChart2011.jpg

Bernoff, J. (2010). Social technographics; Conversationalists get onto the ladder. Retrieved January 24, 2016 from http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2010/01/conversationalists-get-onto-the-ladder.html

Social-Learning [Online image]. Retrieved January 24, 2016 http://www.ibhacks.com/images/social-learning.jpg